text:
EEE in Indiana mosquitoes 2013.
WNV in Indiana mosquitoes 2013..
As foresters, woodland owners, and tree and wildlife enthusiasts we hear the word safety and immediately think about making sure our hard hat is packed, our gas tank is full, our cell phone is charged, and we have a buddy to call in case of an emergency. How many of us think about diseases? Who thinks about West Nile Virus (WNV) or Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE)? For those of us that take our pets into the field WNV and EEE are very real threats. West Nile Virus originated in Africa but spread quickly throughout the United States after an outbreak in New York in 1999. By 2003, 46 states had been infected and nearly 10,000 people had fallen ill.
Although not contagious by contact with an infected person or animal, a protective layer is recommended when handling potential infected subjects. Most infected humans show no symptoms while a minority exhibit with fevers, headaches, skin rashes, meningitis or encephalitis. Very few people die from WNV (< 1:1,000) but precautions should always be taken to prevent exposure. A total of 156 cases of WNV have been reported in Indiana this year with one sample being human. Other cases have been found in bordering states with 741 cases (mosquito) in Illinois, two mosquito and four human cases in Michigan, 64 mosquito cases in Ohio, and zero cases of any kind in Kentucky as of August 20, 2013.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis is a rare viral disease that can be transmitted from host mosquitoes to a number of other animal species. Historical accounts of the disease show that in midwestern states EEE is most often found in southwestern Michigan however infected horses in Indiana have been found. EEE infects nearly all game birds, amphibians, reptiles, and last year in Michigan; an 8-week-old puppy.
Humans are not immune to EEE and nearly 30% of people that develop the disease die and approximately 50% of survivors have permanent neurological complications. Symptoms of infection may or may not occur and will often take between three and ten days to be realized. EEE symptoms in humans range from fever, headache, and nausea to abdominal pain, paralysis, seizures, and fainting. An elderly woman in New England died on August 21, 2013 and was the first human casualty of the disease this year. A vaccine has been developed to prevent EEE in horses however no vaccine or treatment is available to protect humans or other animals from EEE or WNV. Elimination of standing water is our only defense against potential EEE and WMV threats.
As the summer is in full swing and more and more of us head out to the field, please do not forget to protect yourself and your pets from potential exposure to mosquitoes.
Sourced Information:
Beasley, D.W.C. et al. (2013) Resurgence of West Nile neurologic disease in the United States in 2012: What happened? What needs to be done? Antiviral Research 99:1–5.
Wendell, L.C. et al. (2013) Successful Management of Severe Neuroinvasive Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Neurocrit Care 19:111–115.
USGS Disease Maps
Van Buren County horse dies of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, horse owners urged to vaccinate animals, MLIVE Media Group
Weymouth officials urge caution after EEE death, The Patriot Ledger
Mosquitoes, Purdue Extension Entomology
Written By:
Shaneka Lawson, Plant Physiologist
Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center (HTIRC)
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University


text:
Now that I've lost all of my saved images and have to start all over - I'm vowing to credit all of the photos you find on the blog that were not taken by me, to either the designer, the photographer, or the original site I found the photos on. This means a lot more work for me, but it ensures that credit is paid all the time, to those who deserve it.
Also, the Kitchen Month I did on the blog was by far the most successful month I ever had. I don't know if it was just because it was all about kitchens, or if it was because you knew that you could rely on the same topic each day, but over 100,000 readers tuned in this past February!! So, each week, the blog will have a "theme". It might be room types, colors, flowers, furniture styles, lighting ... heck, it could be baskets; but we'll start on Mondays and until Sunday you can bet that at 7:30am you'll find 10 inspiring photos about the same topic all week.
I'm getting a late start, but this week lets kick off our new theme with something most of us have and all of us find difficult to decorate:

subset: commoncrawl


text:
MONTREAL — Joe Flanders grew up in a family of medical professionals.
His dad's a doctor, as are both his siblings, and his mother is a speech therapist.
So it's understandable, he says, that his parents were somewhat perplexed when he announced he wanted to concentrate on being mindful.
"I think I may have been the black sheep for a while," he told me with a laugh. "Everything is fine now, but at the time, they weren't so sure."
Flanders said he firmly believes that if we spend 15 minutes a day being mindful, it can improve our lives.
"So often, we don't pay attention to or notice the mental aspect of our experiences, but being mindful allows us to tune in and optimize our mental approach to our day-to-day experiences," he said.
And it's not about being all "granola and the like." Being mindful, he says, "increases clarity, decreases stress and makes you healthier and happier overall."
Flanders, 34, is a really smart guy. He has a PhD in clinical psychology from McGill University, has completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin and is an assistant professor in McGill's psychology department.
And he practises mindfulness and meditation and knows first-hand the positive effects it can have on one's life.
"I began when I was an undergrad in Toronto and met someone inspiring, a Buddhist neuroscientist, who practised daily," Flanders told me in conversation last week.
"I was overloaded with school work, and thought I would give it a try, that it could help."
And he said that "the more I practised being still, really living in the moment, the more clarity I began to have, better able to cope."
All that clarity led him to open the first clinic of its kind in Montreal in 2011.
Mindspace clinic offers workshops and training in mindfulness (along with other psychological services and counselling).
And what's exciting, said Flanders, is that science is really starting to pay attention. "It's becoming more mainstream and recognized in the medical community."
Flanders points out that doctors in the United States who take mindfulness as part of their practice get rebates on their liability insurance policies. "That really speaks volumes," he said.
When we are fully present and living in the moment, we are better able to turn off the negative and toxic thoughts that we experience daily.
"For every positive thought we have, we also experience three to five negatives ones," he said. And most of us, sadly, run with the negative ones.
"Imagine that if we learn to deal with those self-critical, stress-inducing thoughts, that we could learn how to restore balance, to pay attention to this moment, how much better we could deal with things — to free up mindspace. There is a real freedom and energy when you do that."
And it doesn't always have to be negative thoughts, either, it can be distracting or misleading ones as well.
Flanders recently began working with a group of doctors in Montreal.
"Medicine is a highly stressful environment, as one can imagine," Flanders said.
"Making many decisions in a stress-fuelled environment is tough, not to mention the burden of expectation; there is a significant burnout rate."
A story in amednews.com says "this sort of meditative exercise … is just one sign of the rising interest among physicians, medical schools and hospitals in using mindfulness practices to help alleviate doctors' stress and reconnect them with their patients and their calling in medicine."
Flanders said studies have shown that even though meditation makes us feel calmer and less stressed, it has been documented that mindfulness actually changes the structure and the function of certain parts of the brain.
"Worry and rumination are terrible liabilities."
Being mindful can be a very useful tool with regard to weight loss as well.
"We must learn to change the behaviours and the patterns that lead many people to overeat."
Working with a patient who had gastric bypass surgery has shown him that: "With that type of surgery, you are more or less forced into increased restriction.
"There are all these things you are told not to eat, no drinking, no sweets. It becomes about everything we can't have, and when we are forced with 50 or 60 choices a day, we become mentally burnt, it's a depletion of mental resources, and head off to the nearest La Belle Province to deal with it."
Instead, learning to quiet the mind will help us tune in to our values, help with our decision-making — which can hopefully help us learn to make better choices.
And the beauty of the whole thing is that it can be done virtually anywhere, by anyone, at anytime.
"All you need is 15 quiet minutes."
Flanders said that even as adults we need a "time out" space, be it a room, or a corner of a room to practise.
"Make it a routine, a part of your day just like you shower and brush your teeth."
And a suggested, easy place to begin is by focusing on your breath.
"Simple as that," Flanders said.
There you have it. Doctor's orders.
Visit mindspaceclinic.com to access free audio mindfulness guides.
Twitter: @JuneieOne


text:
DNR warns bridge work could kill rare frog
DNR warns Grant County bridge project could kill rare frog
MADISON, Wis. — The Department of Natural Resources says bridge replacement work in southwestern Wisconsin could kill some rare frogs.
Grant County officials are looking to replace a bridge over the Platte River in the town of Ellenboro. The area, however, is home to the endangered northern cricket frog. The county has asked the DNR for an incidental take authorization.
DNR officials say they plan to grant the authorization pending public comment. They have concluded the project could indeed result in the incidental taking of some frogs but likely won't jeopardize the frog's continued existence or recovery in the state and the new bridge would benefit the public.
The DNR is taking comments on the authorization through Feb. 11.


text: As Dave could tell you I'm having a tough time deciding on which board to order. I was originally considering Walnut or Cherry but I came across this thread http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/printpost.php?tid/831732/ which I believe all the shots are on a Mahogany board and it doesn't look nearly as red as the ones on Dave's website (white balance?). If it's not to much trouble would anyone that owns a Mahogany Board mind posting a photo or two, I'd really appreciate it.


text:
TANTRUM: Talking Out of Turn
Improvisational comedy troupe TANTRUM is Talking Out of Turn with its unique style of long-form improv performance on Wednesday, February 18, at 7 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.
Taking suggestions, TANTRUM spins impromptu skits that generate a succession of spontaneous scenes aimed at giving the audience fits (of laughter). Every performance is different, because everything is improvised – and anything can happen. This is the first of three installments in a series of Talking Out of Turn performances.
Veterans of the local improvisational comedy scene, the TANTRUM cast includes Trish Berrong, Pete Calderone, Nikki Dupont, Rob Grabowski, Megan Mercer, Michael Montague Jr., and Josh Steinmetz. They will be joined by author Kevin Dilmore, a special guest whose monologues will serve as inspiration for TANTRUM skits.
Admission is free. Click here or call 816.701.3407 to RSVP.


text:
How Linus Torvalds became benevolent dictator of Planet Linux, the biggest collaborative project in history.
|Reinventing Your Inbox
Linus Torvalds wants me to believe he's too boring for this story. The creator of the Linux operating system portrays himself as a mild-mannered soul leading a humdrum life, just another guy lucky enough to own a McMansion in the hills above San Jose courtesy of the money-mad late '90s. Before agreeing to meet me, Torvalds sent an email imagining that I'd be overwhelmed by the tedium of hanging around with the likes of him.
This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Contact firstname.lastname@example.com to report an issue.
Ian White
Torvalds, now full-time at the Open Source Development Lab (right), dons a mask of the Linux mascot Tux.
"Six shots of coffee and I was expecting Linus to really spring into action," he wrote, pretending to be me. "Where would he go next? Fighting evil software hoarders? But no. He got into his car (dammit, if I had a car like that I wouldn't act so sluglike) and drove sedately back home I closed my eyes and dreamt of more exciting assignments."
On one level, Torvalds' life really is filled with quotidian routine. He works from home as a fellow for the Open Source Development Lab, a corporate-funded consortium created to foster improvements to Linux. His commute is a walk down a flight of stairs to an office he shares with Tove, his wife of nine years. It's jammed with Linux-related books, few of which he's read, and looks out onto the narrow walkway between his home and the neighbor's. The early July day he invites me to visit is his first official one as an OSDL employee, but it isn't long after my arrival that he excuses himself to take out the garbage because Tove nags him about the smell. Later, he takes a break to feed a lunch of milk splashed over Cheerios to his three daughters, all younger than 8, while Tove runs errands.
Torvalds, 33, looks like a supply clerk. His wispy brown hair frames preternaturally blue eyes and a soft, open face with an ample nose and heavy jaw. He's almost never without a benign grin, a smile so pearly-white perfect that he could get work in a teeth-bleaching ad. And he's dressed as though ready for a casual morning of tennis: white socks, white shorts, and a slight variation of the same shirt he more or less always wears – a white polo obtained for free at some Linux event.
Yet Torvalds' humble office is the de facto world headquarters for an operating system now used by more than 18 million people around the globe, and this self-described ordinary Joe is admired by legions of fans who cast him as a modern-day warrior courageous enough to challenge the most powerful technology companies in the universe and smart enough to win. It's easy to see why that hyperbolic depiction has taken hold. At 21, wearing a ratty robe in a darkened room in his mother's Helsinki apartment, Torvalds wrote the kernel of an operating system that can now be found inside a boggling array of machines and devices. He posted it on the Internet and invited other programmers to improve it. Since then, tens of thousands of them have, making Linux perhaps the single largest collaborative project in the planet's history. Twelve years on, the operating system is robust enough to run the world's most powerful supercomputers yet sleek and versatile enough to run inside consumer toys like TiVo, as well as television set-top boxes and portable devices such as cell phones and handhelds. But even more impressive than Linux's increasing prevalence in living rooms and pockets is its growth in the market for servers, the centralized computers that power the Internet and corporate networks. It's only a matter of time, concluded Goldman Sachs in a study released earlier this year titled "Fear the Penguin," before Linux displaces Unix as the dominant operating system running the world's largest corporate data centers. It's impossible to measure precisely the spread of software that anyone – from a resident of a third world country to the CTO of a multinational giant – can download for free over the Internet, but Linux has surely proved itself the most revolutionary software undertaking of the past decade.
Linux's mainstream arrival is testament not only to the worth of the code contributed by programmers working out of love rather than pursuit of a paycheck, but to the power of its progenitor, who still gives a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to any changes. Torvalds acknowledges being "benevolent dictator of Planet Linux," as he calls it, yet the secret to his success is not, apparently, his technological prowess but his disarming personality. Check in with the loyal subjects who have watched Torvalds' rule – a process best accomplished via email – and they'll agree. As Cliff Miller, an early Linux contributor, writes: "He is a great leader, which he may not even realize."
Over the past decade, other free software products have been hailed as critical building blocks of our networked world. About two-thirds of the servers that collectively make up the Internet deliver Web pages and other data through a program called Apache, developed by a band of programmers who receive no direct financial compensation for their work. The programming language Perl, another freebie, has become so indispensable to Web developers that it's been referred to as the duct tape of the Internet. And most of the world's email is routed through Sendmail, yet another exercise in mob authorship. Like Linux, each of these was created by coders abiding by the open source credo: Do what you wish to improve a product, charge for it if you like, but share the underlying source code you added.
These efforts, impressive as they are, haven't matched Linux in terms of reach and acclaim. That's partly because, as an operating system, Linux plays the glamour position in the software world, akin to the quarterback or lead guitar. But hackers have backed other free operating systems, and none have attained the following that Linux enjoys. "This is not due to the variation in technical merit, development style, or licensing scheme," Miller writes to me. "The difference is spelled L-I-N-U-S." People have tried to make Torvalds into what he's not – anti-money, anti-capitalist, anti-Microsoft – so they tend to miss his true strengths. Those who work closely with Torvalds describe him as a steadying force atop an ever burgeoning community populated by more than its share of prickly programmers and zealots. Under his guidance, they manage to crank out software that matches, if not exceeds, the work produced by the salaried armies of Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and other well-financed behemoths.
Those giants have certainly taken notice. Microsoft's top executives acknowledge Linux as a top adversary, and it's no wonder. Time has shown a strong correlation between a company's stock price and the vigor with which that company has embraced Linux. Oracle, IBM, and Intel – three of the system's earliest corporate proponents – have mostly held their value on Wall Street over the past couple years. Sun, which was late and halfhearted in adopting Linux, has watched its stock plummet.
Ian White
Still, for all its recent triumphs, Linux now faces its single greatest threat: a lawsuit that seeks to prove that Linux represents a widespread case of intellectual property theft and to charge its users steep fees as compensation. In March, the SCO Group, a Utah-based company that owns the rights to the Unix operating system, accused IBM of dropping thousands of lines of Unix into Linux. Since then, SCO executives have charged that the presence of its code in Linux raises ownership issues that call into question not only Linux's legality but the very process that makes open source such a vital part of the tech world. Linux is based on donated code: Torvalds and his peers who oversee popular open source projects accept contributions from any and all sources based on the merits of the code alone. They don't have the institutional resources to ensure that a programmer isn't guilty of plagiarism.
"We need to step back and take a look at the open source business model, which doesn't provide [private enterprises like ours] with inherent protections," SCO chief executive Darl McBride charged in August. To pursue its claim against IBM, whose programmers have been some of the most prolific contributors to Linux, SCO has hired David Boies, who represented the government against Microsoft and Gore against Bush before the US Supreme Court.
Legal papers filed by SCO cast Torvalds as a ringleader encouraging his followers to brazenly flout the law, and though the suit wouldn't have a significant financial impact on him (he collects no royalties from his operating system), Linux has come to define his identity. Torvalds never set out to champion an alternative method for creating software, but inadvertently he has, and now he's both proud of that accomplishment and angry that his life's work is under attack. For better or for worse, he has emerged as the poster boy for the open source movement, and SCO has thrown a big fat dirtball at the cause. "I spend a lot more time than any person should have to talking with lawyers and thinking about intellectual property issues," Torvalds says with a sigh.
Torvalds is a work-at-home dad with no formal management training. He confesses to being terribly disorganized. His approach to voicemail is to let messages stack up and then delete them without listening to any. His memory is so lousy that he can't recall whether he was 6 or 8 or 10 when his parents divorced. And he's awfully absentminded: We are heading out the door for lunch when Torvalds suddenly remembers that his wife is out and that if we leave, his kids will be home alone. Then there's his ambivalence about his role as Linux's leader. "I don't have a five-year agricultural plan," he says. "I don't want to dictate: This is how we're all going to march in lockstep." Yet the 12 years he's presided over an unruly group of volunteer programmers is worthy of study by those who teach leadership inside the world's finest MBA programs.
His hold over Linux is based more on loyalty than legalities. He owns the rights to the name and nothing else. Theoretically, someone could appropriate every last line of his OS and rename it Sally. "I can't afford to make too many stupid mistakes," Torvalds says, "because then people watching will say, hey, maybe we can find someone better. I don't have any authority over Linux other than this notion that I know what I'm doing." He jokingly refers to himself as "Linux's hood ornament," and he's anything but an autocrat. His power is based on nothing more than the collective respect of his cohorts.
Almost from the beginning, Torvalds has surrounded himself with a circle of deputies he calls "maintainers." These are programmers whose contributions have impressed him in a particular category – networking, say, or file system management – so that now they contribute code as well as screen the contributions of others that fall into their area of expertise. "Nobody gets declared into any of these positions," explains Alan Cox, who until this summer was responsible for those layers of the operating system that communicate with disk drives. Instead, Torvalds will simply start relying on that person to help him weigh the merits of others' work; suddenly the programmer finds himself occupying an exalted role. Today, Torvalds has a dozen maintainers who help him manage upcoming versions of Linux. According to Cox, Torvalds tends to have a different relationship with each one. Some he's collaborated with for many years and trusts implicitly. Others he reviews more closely because "perhaps he doesn't trust their design decisions or some of their coding," writes Cox in an email. "We all have our weaknesses." That's one of the great advantages of the open source model, Cox adds: constant feedback and peer review.
This geographically dispersed group meets at least once a year to talk about its goals for the operating system. "Linus sets a philosophical direction about how he likes the code to be," says Andrew Morton, who has been working on core components of Linux since 2000. "The rest of us pretty much follow his lead." Torvalds has final say over their decisions, but it's extremely rare for him to overrule any of them.
Earlier this year, Torvalds asked Morton to take over informally as number two. Morton, who for several years ran software development teams inside Nortel Networks, is now overseeing the release of Linux version 2.6, expected by the end of this year. But that arrangement is represented more clearly on an organizational chart than in reality. Some people, it seems, still send potential 2.6 fixes directly to Torvalds – and he'll respond rather than defer to his lieutenant. "Somehow things move ahead fairly well," says Morton.
By all accounts, Torvalds has a good feel for when he should hold forth and when he should keep his opinion to himself. He'll debate an issue passionately – favoring terms like pinhead and brain-damaged when arguing technical points – and sometimes make the wrong call, but if so, he's proved willing to publicly admit his mistakes. More than anything he seeks to avoid taking sides in a way that might splinter his followers. "I'd much rather have 15 people arguing about something than 15 people splitting into two camps, each side convinced it's right and not talking to the other," he says. Often, when things are on the verge of getting messy, he'll consciously avoid making a decision, allowing time for feelings to dissipate. "Eventually, some obvious solution will come to the fore or the issue will just fade away," says Morton.
In a way, Torvalds is less a ruler (or a hood ornament, for that matter) than an ambassador, roaming his virtual world and exerting his influence to prevent technical fights from devolving into sectarian battles. Take the factions that want him to make toppling Microsoft a priority: Create a version of Linux as simple for novices to use as Windows, they reason, and you loosen Redmond's grip on the PC. "That's the kind of politics you see inside Oracle and Sun," Torvalds says. "Once you start thinking more about where you want to be than about making the best product, you're screwed."
Mike Olson is the CEO of a Massachusetts-based database startup called Sleepycat Software and contributed critical components to Linux as a UC Berkeley grad student. He describes Torvalds as "very, very good – much better than engineers in general – at smoothing out difficulties, building consensus, and building community. He really has only a technical agenda."
Perhaps there's no plainer example of Torvalds' equanimity than his unflappable attitude toward Richard Stallman, the intellectual forefather of the free software movement. A former computer scientist at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab, Stallman has been arguing as far back as 1984 that proprietary software is practically a crime against humanity. That's the year he launched a project called GNU with the aim of creating a free operating system that would displace Unix. (GNU is a recursive name that stands for GNU's Not Unix.) He obstinately rejects the term open source despite its now near universal use, preferring free software, the name he coined. And although Torvalds released the kernel of his operating system well before GNU produced a reliable one of its own, Stallman insists Torvalds' work should properly be called GNU/Linux, because early contributors adapted GNU components for Linux – never mind that the Linux core is non-GNU and now approaches 6 million lines of code. (Stallman declined to be interviewed unless this article used his nomenclature throughout.) Torvalds diplomatically declines to say anything about GNU and Stallman: "That's not a debate I want to get involved in."
That's typical Torvalds, according to John "maddog" Hall, who heads a nonprofit advocacy group called Linux International and has been friends with Torvalds since they met at a computer conference in 1994. Hall claims he's seen an angry outburst only once, when a stranger was pestering Torvalds about a technical point while he was drinking a beer with friends. "This is different from some of the other free and open source advocates and project leaders whose anger is legendary," Hall writes in an email.
Torvalds has a good human touch. Hall, who has no children, says he will be forever grateful to his friend for choosing him as godfather to two of Torvalds' daughters.Yet when it comes to weighing the merits of a technology, Torvalds is adept at separating the idea from the person suggesting it. His is a world that works only if the best idea wins; he has no giant marketing budget to compensate for poor technical decisions, no clout in the marketplace to compensate for mediocrity. It's invariably painful when Torvalds rejects someone's contribution. The friends of one programmer told Torvalds their pal had threatened suicide after a feature he had obviously spent a lot of time developing was not included.
"Torvalds makes decisions based on whether he feels a design is clean, of high quality, whether it's going to be easy to service and, very important, whether it's needed by a broad set of users," says Dan Frye, who as director of IBM's Linux technology center oversees a team of more than 300 developers. "He's very good at staying away from anything just to satisfy a single corporate user or any entity's agenda."
"If you're too commercial," Torvalds says, "you end up being too shortsighted. You have a 'this is what we need' mentality, and you blow everything else off. But you want the commercial side, because commercial forces end up listening to different customers and meeting different needs compared to those doing it just for fun."
"I was an ugly child." That's how Torvalds chose to open his 2001 autobiography, Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary, written with journalist David Diamond. He describes himself as "a beaverish runt" of a kid and goes out of his way to stress his flaws, as if unaware that the standard practice of the genre is to make oneself sound more grand and important.
Perhaps he inherited his penchant for self-deprecation from his mother. Mikke Torvalds, a journalist with the Finnish News Agency, chose "Linus, schminus" as her subject line in the first email she sent to me. "As Sara [his sister] and I used to say, just give Linus a spare closet with a good computer in it and feed him some dry pasta, and he'll be perfectly happy," Mikke wrote.
In a way, Linus was born to be a revolutionary. His parents were campus radicals at the University of Helsinki in the 1960s. Torvalds' father was a card-carrying Communist who spent a year studying in Moscow when his son was about 5. He served a stint as a minor elected official (he's now a prominent television and radio exec). Other kids teased Linus about his father's politics. "Growing up, I was terribly embarrassed by him," Torvalds says.
Reading through his autobiography, anyone might think that his first true love was not a girl but the British-produced Sinclair QL, a then state-of-the-art machine he bought while a computer science student at the University of Helsinki. The QL, one of the world's first 32-bit boxes, provided Torvalds with his motivation for writing Linux: He wanted an OS for his home computer that would be as stable and strong as Unix, which he used on campus. At first he turned to a knockoff called Minix, but in time found it frustratingly inadequate as well. Since higher education is free in Finland and there isn't the pressure to finish a degree in four years, Torvalds decided to take a break and turn his attention full-time to creating his own operating system.
Through the spring and summer of 1991, Torvalds worked on the kernel of the system. He lived in near-isolation, rarely bothering to open the thick black curtains he had hung over his windows to reduce glare. He would have been a total recluse, he recalls, if not for Wednesday-night gatherings at a local pub, where he'd drink beer and talk shop with fellow members of the university's computer club. Finally, on September 17, 1991, he posted a message in a Minix users newsgroup, announcing that a rough cut of his creation could be downloaded for free from a university Internet site. Use Linux if you'd like, he instructed people, but any changes, new features, or improvements you devise must be shared with everyone else at no cost. It's an idea he borrowed from Richard Stallman, who had devised the General Public License, an agreement by which entrepreneurs could charge as much as they liked for a program but had to provide access to its source code. Torvalds opted for a version of the GPL that forbade anyone from making money selling modified versions of Linux.
He bristles when I suggest it can't be coincidence that a man born to socialist firebrands created something many people regard as revolutionary because it's shared gratis with the masses. "It never was, Take this and let us together build a better world," he says. His choices were to either keep this unfinished core of an OS for himself or share it with anyone who wanted it.
"My reasons for putting Linux out there were pretty selfish," he says. "I didn't want the headache of trying to deal with parts of the operating system that I saw as the crap work. I wanted help." Besides, he couldn't fathom collecting money for something he viewed as unfinished work that required the contribution of others.
A few months after he unveiled Linux, Torvalds received an email asking if he would add a compression feature so that Linux would work on systems with limited memory. It was nothing Torvalds would ever use – his system had ample RAM – but he worked on the feature throughout Christmas eve and into Christmas day.
The feature proved to be the add-on that gave his creation a leg up on Minix and other Unix knockoffs. Almost immediately after Torvalds posted the improvement, Linux gained hundreds of users, and he began receiving messages from people offering bug fixes and new features that made the OS increasingly valuable. This early sign of success gave him the confidence to change the licensing agreement so that people could make money selling Linux-based products as long as they continued to share the source code on any features they devised. The move led to the creation of companies such as Red Hat, founded in 1993, adding the energy and drive of entrepreneurs to the mix of those contributing to Linux.
These kinds of strategic decisions proved as key to Linux's success as the technical choices Torvalds made. One complaint about Linux at the time was that it worked only on PCs, so in 1994 Torvalds began seeking new outlets for his operating system, starting with a workstation computer called the Alpha, made by Digital Equipment Corp. Serendipity also played a role in the spread of Linux. Torvalds had nothing to do with the creation of the server software package Apache, but its developers wrote it first for the Linux platform, which gave the operating system entr�e into corporations in the mid-1990s. By 1997, tech analysts were conservatively estimating that at least 3 million computers worldwide were running Linux.
With renown came unexpected demands. Torvalds' private life became fodder for discussion and debate. He met Tove, a six-time Finnish karate champ, while teaching an introductory computer course at the University of Helsinki. (She responded to his first homework assignment – each student was to send him an email – by asking him out on a date.) When word spread that the couple was going to have a child, the open source community greeted the news with fear rather than joy. Could Torvalds balance Linux and family, members of newsgroups wondered in emails, especially given the demands of grad school?
The reaction was even more intense when, in 1997, he announced that he was taking a job with Transmeta, a chipmaker in Santa Clara, California. Linux fans feared he'd never be able to remain true to his open source roots in a commercial atmosphere. Worse, the venture was funded in part by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, which fueled sarcastic references to the "evil corporate environment" he was entering. For Torvalds, though, the decision was fairly straightforward. He'd always hated the cold, dark winters in Finland, and this was an opportunity to live in sunny Silicon Valley, the center of the universe to anyone in the computer field. He had been offered jobs at Linux-based businesses like Red Hat, but he was loath to favor one vendor over another. His arrangement with Transmeta, where he wrote software that allowed operating systems to communicate with the company's chips, permitted him to also spend time on Linux. In return, Transmeta would receive the services of a talented engineer who brought with him invaluable media attention – employment as a publicity stunt.
Torvalds arrived in Silicon Valley at a time when the computer world was looking for a new David to go up against Goliath. Microsoft seemed to have its hand in every aspect of computing, and once Netscape lost the browser wars with Microsoft, those committed to the cause glommed on to Linux as the next big threat to the Redmond beast. Like Windows, Linux ran on Intel-based PCs, but Windows was crash-prone even on a single machine, whereas Linux could reliably lash together dozens of computers. That gave it an advantage with corporate customers.
Journalists had a field day contrasting Torvalds – seemingly so indifferent to wealth that he didn't charge a penny for his product – with Gates, filthy rich with all that monopoly money. Fan sites popped up in dozens of languages. "The easy story line was that I was an idealist, even though that isn't the motivation for Linux," Torvalds says. He didn't exactly help put the kibosh on that narrative when he turned down the $10 million in options that a Linux-related company offered him to sit on its board of directors. He thought he'd compromise his objectivity if he lent his authority to any single company. His reasoning was sound, but was it any wonder the press depicted Torvalds as an otherworldly creature walking the Valley, where lucrative board appointments and IPO shares were treated as an entitlement?
Torvalds' home is spacious – a split-level, five-bedroom spread with a three-car garage and a backyard Jacuzzi housed in a wooden gazebo. The master bedroom affords enviable views of the hills and is so large that it contains both an exercise bike and a treadmill (neither of which, Torvalds confesses, he ever uses). Another room upstairs, outfitted with a pool table, wet bar, and temperature-controlled mini wine cellar, serves as his playpen. The home teems with the Linux mascot, from porcelain penguins in various sizes to partying penguins on a blue hand towel in the guest bathroom. But his favorite toy is a sunburst-yellow Mercedes SLK32 sitting in the garage. Still, it's the rear end of the black Acura SUV next to it that draws my attention. The faithful can be seen up and down Highway 101 in Northern California, driving their 7-year-old Hondas and used Volvos outfitted with bumper stickers that proclaim them Linux rebels. But the gleaming silver license plate frame affixed to Tove's car reads: coffee, chocolate, men: some things are better rich.
Torvalds was hardly wealthy his first few years in the Valley. Dotcom kids were getting rich on inventions barely worth mentioning in the same breath as Linux, yet he was living modestly on his Transmeta salary, his growing family cramped in a duplex. People would send him emails pleading for a handout, assuming he was as flush as he was famous. A man he never met even asked him to deliver the eulogy at his father's funeral. Steve Jobs and Bill Joy were among the tech bigwigs who contacted him out of the blue. He was idolized by fans and at the same time burdened by the practical worries of any Valley-based programmer struggling to make ends meet. His mother recalls him fretting about the eventual cost of college tuition for his children.
His fortunes changed in 1999. Red Hat and VA Linux, both leading purveyors of Linux-based software packages tailored for large enterprises, had granted him stock options with no strings attached, thank-yous from entrepreneurs who hoped to grow rich off his creation. When Red Hat went public that year, Torvalds was suddenly worth $1 million. On the day VA Linux (now VA Software) went public, Torvalds was worth roughly $20 million, though by the time he could sell his shares, they were valued at only a fraction of that.
Torvalds hesitated before buying himself his first expensive bauble, a two-seater BMW convertible. "I was a bit nervous about people's reaction," he confesses. "Are they going to think I've gone over to the dark side?" In the end he decided that the shape and price of the hunk of metal he drove to and from work each day was his own business. Despite counsel to the contrary, Torvalds wisely sold all of his stock and spent almost all of the windfall on his home and his cars, trusting that he'd always be able to earn a good salary as an engineer.
For the moment, Torvalds has the security of his post at the Open Source Development Lab, an organization whose scope and ranks have expanded along with Linux. Created in 2000 by a small consortium of major technology companies, including Intel and Hewlett-Packard, the OSDL aimed to accelerate Linux's adoption by financing well-equipped labs where programmers could test software features built specifically for the corporate world. Today, the organization has more than two dozen employees working in labs in Beaverton, Oregon, and in Yokohama, Japan, and 23 sponsoring companies – some of which contribute as much as $1 million a year.
"We seek to be the center of gravity for Linux development," says Stuart Cohen, who took over as CEO of the lab in April. Working groups staffed by employees of member corporations meet regularly to devise wish lists meant to tailor Linux for use in new areas, such as global telecom networks and high-end servers running the most demanding software applications.
For Torvalds, a well-paying gig as the lab's first full-time research fellow seemed like a dream come true. He'd be able to do what he's always done, but without the Transmeta-related obligations that were vying for his time. Instead, he started the job just as SCO's McBride declared that pretty much anyone using Linux is violating copyright laws and ripping off SCO. "With the US legal system, it's always hard to tell what the hell is going to happen," Torvalds says. "So I can't just dismiss the lawsuit as the complete crapola I think it is."
Near the end of our day together, Torvalds and I head out in his Mercedes to eat at a nearby sushi place, followed by a visit to Starbucks. Behind the wheel, Torvalds is manic and possessed, driving with such a lead foot that even a brief ride leaves me woozy. "The man with the flashy car," says the Starbucks barista who greets Torvalds, "the man with the secret wild alter ego." She brings him a tall double latte without waiting for him to order.
Here we finally talk about what Torvalds describes as the "unpleasantness" surrounding the SCO suit. The smile that graced his face for hours is gone. The man who only 30 minutes ago seemed incapable of a bad mood sits slumped in his chair.
At first, the suit seemed like a narrowly defined contract dispute. SCO, which specializes in software systems for small and medium-size businesses, licenses Unix to larger com- panies like IBM that sell proprietary versions. SCO claims that IBM dumped Unix code into Linux, and that this contribution helped Linux to grow from a home-brewed plaything into an OS reliable enough for IBM to sell Linux-based systems to Fortune 500 companies. A trial isn't scheduled to start until well into 2005.
In the meantime, SCO is raising the stakes. In June, the company amended its suit to include an August 2001 email in which Torvalds admits he abides by a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to patent issues: "I do not look up any patents on principle because (a) it's a horrible waste of time and (b) I don't want to know," he wrote to fellow Linux hackers. Though McBride has insisted he seeks "to work through issues in such a way that we get justice without putting a hole in the head of the penguin," SCO now appears intent on doing just that. In August, McBride announced a pricing plan that his company seems to have plucked straight from city traffic ticket enforcement: Any for-profit entity using Linux must pay SCO a onetime fee of $699 per processor. Failure to do so by October 15 means the price doubles to $1,399. McBride drew an analogy to the music industry's recent decision to target individual users illegally downloading copyrighted songs. "If we have to sue end users to give us relief for our damages," McBride says, "we will." The same month, IBM filed a countersuit, accusing SCO of infringing on several IBM patents and breaching the Linux GPL.
Torvalds is unapologetic about his "don't want to know" email. "As any patent lawyer will tell you, no engineer should ever go looking for a patent." For one thing, he argues, that's a job best left to lawyers; for another, if a competitor can prove a person checked and went ahead anyway, then that engineer would be liable for triple damages. As Torvalds sees it, SCO quoted his email only to score points in the media and cast this as a broader fight over intellectual property. He does, however, regret a crack he made at the end of his email that a hit man would be the easiest solution. "The fact is," he says of the SCO suit, "I don't think in the end this is going to mean a whole lot."
Perhaps, but that assessment is offered by a man who sees every moment spent thinking about legal matters as time away from his fellow citizens of Planet Linux. Torvalds had long ago drained his latte by the time he was fed up talking about SCO. We head out to his car, and any lingering bad feelings seem to fly away as he gets behind the wheel of the Mercedes. The top is down, and the hot Silicon Valley sun glints off his forehead. Dressed all in white, with his paunch pressing against his shirt, he looks like a contented pasha seated on his throne. He is an unusual king, but then, he and his loyal subjects are an equally unusual and amazing lot.
Reinventing Your Inbox
Mitch Kapor brings open source to the masses.
by Dan Gillmor
What everyone wants: a single, easy-to-use app that combines email, calendaring, address book, instant messaging, and file-sharing – and works with any device running any major operating system. Oh, and it should be really cheap, if not free.
How to get it: open source, with a twist. That's the approach of Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Kapor has pledged up to $5 million to establish the Open Source Application Foundation. It's nonprofit open source with paid employees, funded by a philanthropist for the social good. The first undertaking: Chandler, codenamed after the famous mystery writer.
Kapor's project deviates from traditional open source efforts in several ways. Unlike Linux, which relies on an army of volunteer programmers, a team of staff engineers oversees Chandler. Unlike Apache, which runs on a server, Chandler is a desktop app. And unlike Mozilla, a spinoff of an existing product, Chandler is being built from scratch. What's more, unlike Linus Torvalds with Linux, Kapor wants to license Chandler for commercial applications to bring in revenue. But in keeping with open source values, Chandler's staff will shepherd contributions from volunteer coders; the OSAF will distribute Chandler under the General Public License, allowing users to change and share the software.
But why launch a nonprofit in a market dominated by twin titans Microsoft (Outlook) and IBM (Lotus Notes)? Because in the face of this cozy duopoly, email innovation has slowed to a crawl. Foundations can march in where sane investors fear to tread.
With Chandler, Kapor poses a set of provocative questions: Does it take a sugar daddy to bring open source to mainstream consumers? Does Chandler represent a new model not just for open source projects, but for commercial development as well? And can this model produce an elegant, easy-to-use app?
Perhaps, but first Kapor must finish Chandler, and that will take time. In April, after 15 months of work, the OSAF made available a rough draft of Chandler – version 0.1 alpha – to the free-software community. The response: It's not ready for prime time. One of OSAF's chief challenges will be to avoid features of use to engineers but not to average users. Too often, Kapor notes, open source applications are "projects by programmers for programmers," people who "don't require the kinds of user interfaces that mere mortals do."
Dan Gillmor is a technology columnist for the San Jose Mercury News.Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.


text: Corporate Responsibility At DLL, we are committed to making sure our customers, society and the environment benefit long into the future. Sustainability is essential to our mutual long-term success. Read more about the three pillars of our sustainability approach below. Sustainable solutions Societal impact Responsible business operations Sustainable solutions We do not just adapt to the trend of 'use, not own', but we actively contribute to the circular economy by creating sustainable business solutions (like our management of assets throughout their entire technical life program: Life Cycle Asset Management). We also want to be your preferred supplier of clean technology. Societal impact We try to have a positive impact on the communities in which we operate through financial contributions and expertise provided via employee volunteer programs. In emerging countries, we improve access to (micro) leasing solutions to achieve economic development. Responsible business operations We are committed to reduce our environmental footprint and measure our impact on the environment and climate change. We aim to meet our reduction targets through resource optimization, changes in behavior, and technological innovation. We uphold high standards of ethical behavior in the way we do business, and we strive to improve our impact on the environment.


text:
Even as time and cost pressures mount in manufacturing, product designers and engineers have new, unprecedented opportunities to drive their companies' success through improved innovation.
That's the focus of Z Corporation's presence at EuroMold 2011, the world fair for moldmaking, tooling, design and application development. The event takes place 29 November through 2 December in Frankfurt, Germany.
Z Corporation, appearing in Hall 11, Stand D48 of the Exhibition Center at Frankfurt am Main, provides 3D printers and 3D scanners for the world's most productive designers and engineers. Its 3D printers are the world's fastest, most affordable and only ones capable of simultaneously printing in multiple colors.
Z Corporation will demonstrate its solutions at EuroMold as well as offer an important session, "How to Choose the Right Rapid Prototyping System," by Peter Hansford, Z Corporation vice president of EMEA/APAC. It takes place Thursday, 1 December, 10 a.m. in Hall 11, the House of Creation.
Attendees can see these 3D printing and 3D scanning solutions at the Z Corporation Stand 11/D48:
* The ZPrinter® 250, the company's newest and most affordable multicolor 3D printer. The ZPrinter 250 has a small physical footprint and incorporates the speed and automation features found in Z Corporation's mid- and high-end printers, making it ideal for the classroom, department or small business.
* The ZPrinter® 450, a full-color, easy-to-use, office-friendly 3D printer delivering advanced color, automation and a print speed five to ten times faster than competing printers.
* The ZPrinter® 650, which delivers the industry's largest models, highest-quality color and finest resolution. It is engineered specifically to satisfy the most demanding application requirements. With the largest build volume of any 3D printer, it enables users to print very large, high-resolution, multicolor models in hours or to simultaneously make many smaller models.
* The ZBuilder® Ultra rapid prototyping machine, which builds durable plastic parts rivaling injection molding's accuracy, material properties, detail and surface finish.
* ZPrinter and ZBuilder prototypes, including concept models, molds, functional parts and show giveaways.
* The ZScanner® 700 CX, the world's first handheld 3D laser scanner that can capture surface information in full 24-bit color, rendering the complete picture of an object, not just the geometry.
"We serve the highest-achieving designers and engineers, so we concentrate on making our solutions the fastest, easiest, most accessible and most valuable," said Z Corporation Vice President of Marketing Kevin Lach. "Our goal is to remove productivity obstacles and unleash the innovation in every designer."
For more information, visit: www.euromold.com or www.zcorp.com


text:
Christine Lagarde calls herself "an international animal". After a year-long campaign all around the globe, she patiently convinced one country after the other until she finally succeded. The first woman named head of the International Monetary Fund in July 2011, she masters the art of public speaking. What strikes me most, watching her speak on videos, is her ability to adapt to any kind of context and audience. Maybe this has something to do with her past as a champion of synchronised swimming? She's "like a fish in water" when she speaks in public and synchronizes with her interlocuteur. She can be commanding and direct, but she can also shift to a warm-hearted and engaging style of communication.
Named the second top favorite personalities for the French people, she's also plebiscited by the Americans. Here's what Timothy Geithner, US Secretary of the Treasury, Time, April 2009, says about her: "Her lightning-quick wit, genuine warmth and ability to bridge divides while remaining fiercely loyal to French interests have been a source of admiration." Her key assets? Perfect English, Precise, Allure and a Human Connector.
What makes her really stand out as a speaker is her unique talent to adapt and engage with any culture and win people over. "Her personal style sends varied messages: To Britons, she is the rare continental European who has somehow mastered the art of small talk. To Germans, she is the rare economic leader who actually seems human. To North Americans, she is just like one of us," says Doug Saunders of CTV News.
The ex-French finance minister also gives her voice to promote women's empowerment. She delivered an inspiring speech at the Global Women's Forum in Deauville in 2010. Here's what you can learn from this inspiring speech:
- Engaging introduction. From the start, she holds our attention speaking in French, very slowly and making pauses. She shares with simplicity and honesty how refreshing and intimidating it is to be there. She sets the tone with striking authenticity. "For more than thirty years, I have been operating in rooms crowded with men." She knows what she's talking about since she's been both innovative and assertive in a man-dominated world. First woman head of Baker & McKenzie in Chicago, back in 1999. First woman French minister of economy and finance in 2007. And now, first woman head of the IMF.
- Walking her talk. Christine Lagarde's two major themes in this talk are trust and confidence. She inspires trust by reaching out to each one of us and she embodies confidence. She makes sure she includes men and women and all the actors of the economy, internationally. We need to embrace the change and rethink the model. It's going to be for all of us.
- Flexibility and adaptation. She starts by making fun of herself and how the big screen reminds her of aging and then quickly moves us with stories of trust and confidence. Then her tone gets more serious, she speaks like a Finance minister, giving us precise data and striking figures about the gender element in Entrepreneurship. She tells us a joke (no, French people don't strike all the time) then switches back to information about quotas and finishes with emotions. She plays with her voice and her body like an instrument, giving us a melody which is finely tuned with the audience and displaying a vast range of nuances.
- Powerful visual metaphors. Speaking about the controversial topic of quotas, she picks up on the pink fish infographics used in a previous presentation. We need to have more pink fish! She's also using this excellent image of the first step women need to climb up the ladder and the necessity of temporary quotas. Legislation currently before the Senate in France would require that corporate boards be 40% female within six years. "The step is too high and we must have significant push and encouragement to make sure that it actually happens." Striking and inspiring conclusion and a call to action. "I would encourage you every day of your life, as I try to do, to ask yourself one question. Did I, today, help another woman?" Simple. Direct. Warm. Authentic. Engaging.
Christine Lagarde definitely takes the women's side in the world's economic jungle. She has five years to prove she can implement change. I believe her excellent communication skills, combined with her emotional intelligence and bravery will be major assets in this international jungle.
Watch her famous opening speech at the Global Women's Forum.


text:
When we speak of introverts, we often think of those who are quiet. There's the common stereotype that if we're Asian, we're quiet and passive, and perhaps introverted too.
I've been every bit the introvert my whole life. As a Chinese Australian who feels too Asian to be Australian and too Australian to be Asian, countless occasions I feel I don't fit in – but ironically I love being on my own.
Being an introvert never bothered me, and it's interesting seeing how others react to me and the way I am.
The difference between an introvert and extrovert lies in how one prefers to socialise. Building upon Carl Jung's writings on introversion and extroversion, author Susan Dembling argues introverts 'gain energy in solitude and quiet, whereas extroverts gain energy in social situations with interaction'. Similarly, the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology defines introversion as a 'predominant concern with one's own thoughts and feelings rather than the outside world and social interaction'.
The way we're brought up plays a part in how we like to spend our time. So does personal preference.
Learning and thriving on one's own is something we may get accustomed to growing up in a typical Asian household that cultivates the ethos of hard work. In a stereotypical Chinese family, it's regarded as respectful when one listens, listens to seniority and works towards goals through and through – in part due to maintaining individual 'face and pride'. During secondary school in Singapore, my class (of Chinese, Malay and Indian races) sat in silence at our own desks practising maths and chemistry formulas over and over every single day. We were each only allowed to go home when we came up with the answers individually.
In Chinese culture, the focus on rote learning creates an atmosphere of solitary competition and so solitary task completion is fostered. In 2005, a study by the University of Michigan found Asian-American schoolchildren academically outperform their Western counterparts because they try harder – and they also spend less time with friends. In her book that explores the significance of introverts in a world where most institutions are geared towards extroverts, writer Susan Cain refers to studies that found Asian students problem-solve better when they remain quiet; she argues introverts exhibit 'quiet persistence'.
A sheltered upbringing centred around Confucian morals in a typical Asian family encourages one to spend time with themselves developing individualistic skills. According to lawyer and author Amy Chua, Tiger parents often seen in Chinese families constantly push their children to excel at academic and non-academic achievements. As a mark of filial piety, it's not uncommon for these kids to obediently and repeatedly practice musical instruments, sports or some kind of craft for hours on end, spending a decent amount of time bettering oneself individually away from the rest of the world.
At the insistence of my parents, as a kid I practised the piano each day after school. Though I didn't enjoy it, I passed several music grades and this skill probably made my memory what it is today. These days, doing something over and over is still how I learn something best and my mind concentrates best when no one is around. For instance, writing inspiration usually hits me at 1am when I'm alone at home, never in a bustling café at midday. At work, I feel most productive on the days where half the office decides not to turn up.
Back then my parents also bought me a Nintendo GameBoy – they rather I stay home and play video games than stay out late. I didn't mind as this gave me reason to avoid shopping centres where my classmates loved hanging out. Standing in the middle of a busy shopping centre gets overwhelming for me: my eyes often latch on to every movement flickering across my eyes; my mind runs a million miles an hour and friends right next to me seem so far away. Out of place, out of mind.
Aside loving alone time and feeling content with the familiar, according to introvert advocate Jenn Granneman introverts tend to have smaller social circles and generally don't go to parties to meet people. Notably, among stereotypical Chinese a selective collective culture is emphasised, a culture where one supports and sticks with those of similar cultural mindset and values. As some of Asian descent have said, there's a common understanding of each other's upbringing and the feeling everything clicks when hanging out together.
At university, my international student Asian friends hung out together all the time, sitting together in tutorials and during lunch. When I wanted company, I joined them as I found it hard to get a word in conversation around my Western classmates. Over the years, 'Are there any Asians at work?' is a question my Chinese-Malaysian parents like asking me, a question which I find perplexing. Many a time the answer has been no, and I've never and never felt the need to mention that most of my friends are Asian.
To a degree our personality is dependent on the way our brain works as opposed to just the way we were brought up. Extroverts tend to have a version of the D4DR gene that makes their dopamine receptors less sensitive to dopamine and so need more dopamine and social interaction to feel satisfied and stimulated. Pleasurable activities stimulate the release of dopamine in our brains, and dopamine motivates us to act.
Not all Asians are introverted. Some are more outgoing than others, or extroverted during particular moments that matter or excite. Loud karaoke is a common pastime in Japan. Typical Chinese wedding receptions involve a good number of roof-rattling toasts. Chinese people are no stranger to heated bargaining matches alongside street markets in South East Asia.
It's one thing to be introverted, and another thing to be shy, and another to be antisocial. Introverts generally dislike extroverted activities while shy people fear these activities and undesirable judgement. Antisocial behaviour is commonly understood as unusual, non-typical ways of socialising. Admittedly, I'm these three traits now and again: unlike many others, I find solace in going to concerts and the movies alone and eating alone. My ideal weekend is one where I get the house to myself and hibernate indoors watching YouTube, read non-fiction and stare out the window with the company of my own thoughts.
Since having therapy for my social anxiety, today walking into a shopping centre is less daunting. However these occasions still remind me of the introvert in me. Countless times I'll walk into a clothes shop, drift past a silent white saleslady staring me down. I'll then hear her greet someone behind me. I'll glance around and see a white girl walking in, the white saleslady all smiles with her. Heart hammering in my chest. The desperation to be alone again making me flush all over. I'd drift towards the entrance, their small talk ringing in my ears louder by the second.
All of us are own unique personalities built upon the individual stories that we live. Our stories and personalities are constantly changing. At different times in our lives we may be more outgoing or extroverted. We may go through phases where we are more comfortable being an ambivert, one of the four different kinds of introverts (social, thinking, anxious, restrained), fitting a certain Myers-Briggs personality or fitting any other character in between.
In a world where the confidently outspoken dominate the spotlight and discrimination is part of society, it can be hard for introverts to share their voice. That said, there are introverts who excel as public speakers from practice and researching their audience. Today there are more Asian Australian faces in Australian media speaking up against racism and pursuing their ambitions underneath the bamboo glass ceiling. It's encouraging for minorities who are introverted or shy and desire to speak up. But presumably some of us prefer to sit back, stay in the background and live our lives as they are.
Often, the latter is how I feel. A year after starting this blog, I was invited by a high school to talk to one of their classes about my written work on multiculturalism. Towards the end of the one hour talk, I felt absolutely spent in front of an excited culturally diverse class asking question after question. Also, responding to comments on this blog feels overwhelming as much as I am humbled to connect with all of you.
Although pursuing writing and sharing it with the world gives me a sense of purpose, it's the quiet moments where I just kick back alone at home with no expectations of what tomorrow will be that brings me the most peace. Fellow introvert Lani over at Lani Cox sums up the dichotomy of being an introvert:
'Sometimes I feel like (being introverted is) a curse: needing space, being touchy and hyper-sensitive. Other times, I simply drink in the silence and solitude, and luxuriate in living my own universe.'
Being an introvert doesn't mean one doesn't want friends or like meeting people or like meeting other introverts. Introverts interact more comfortably sans crowds and are more inclined to connect when conversations run beyond small talk. A study on interpersonal closeness in 1997 suggests introverts have a harder time bonding with new acquaintances compared to extroverts, but are capable of doing so. Given introverts relish solitude, it's a wonder how one meets an introvert, or how introverts meet each other and stay connected – these are more or less unexpected moments, sliding into each other's lives when you least expect it.
This was how I met my wonderful friend, introvert, author, highly sensitive person and blogger Rebecca Rossi. We randomly met some years ago when I went for a job interview and she was on the panel. I didn't get the job; Rebecca started commenting on my blog and I wrote back despite feeling she was stalking me.
This went on for about half a year, and she suggested we meet up. Apart from writing, we had nothing in common. She is vegan, I love my meat. She likes fiction, I prefer non-fiction. She is of Italian heritage, I'm Chinese. Eventually I agreed to meet during peak-hour lunchtime at a cramped café despite every fibre of me screaming 'No!'. It turned out to be a nice lunch with quite a few pauses between our chats. Since that day, we've shared many more memorable meals and pauses.
It may be nice meeting someone reserved (or anyone really) and eventually finding out you have things in common, but it's something special when you actually connect with each other, especially over silence. After all, collective silence or sharing a space of silence with another allows us to escape social conventions and see each other as we really are. One of my best friends happens to be of Asian background and she's outgoing, loves hanging out with others all the time unlike me. Once she said to me, 'I like how when we hang out, we don't always talk with each other'.
Reflecting on our friendship over the years, we've shopped, hiked, ate and celebrated together as two people from similar backgrounds with very different personalities – one loud, one quiet but always making it fun, honest times together. Taking each other for who we are, that's when we connect, and keep connecting.
* * *
Who we are is simply because of who we are. That's a choice we make and feel within us, sometimes alongside the values we grew up with, sometimes not.
Truth be told, I've encountered more extroverts than introverts over time. For most part, I've never felt part of a crowd big or small. Often it feels like I'm my own island in the middle of nowhere. Certainly out of place. But never so sure about where I've come from and where I am right now, Asian, introverted, quiet and all.
Are you an introvert/do you know an introvert?


text:
Three of the most important factors in elevating employee engagement.
I think we can admit that not all jobs are equally interesting. We're constantly told to find jobs that we're excited to wake up for each day, yet the reality is that someone has to do the jobs many find mundane. But what you may not realize is that your level of engagement at work has more to do with your relationship with your manager and perceptions of your employer than the work itself. Those are the factors that motivate employees to go above and beyond.
Factors like job security and retirement benefit security are more basic concerns (think Maslow's hierarchy of needs). So while security is important, it doesn't inspire discretionary effort.
Staying engaged at work is important. It keeps us productive and motivates us to grow while also lowering the chances we hop the fence for greener pastures. So how can managers and executives keep their employees engaged no matter what the position?
(Feeling Engaged? Share your voice in GovExec's largest employee engagement study)
There are a lot of different opinions on what drives engagement at work, so we've scoured the web to bring you the three most important drivers of engagement:
1) Organizational Image
While things like salary and flexible scheduling are important to employee satisfaction, they don't drive productivity. Rather, an organization's image—including an employee's perception of senior leadership and the organization's brand alignment—can help increase productivity. Brand alignment and the actions of senior leadership help create a mission and identity. A strong sense of mission gives workers purpose while identity determines a worker's pride in their organization.
An organization's image is also internal. Employees form opinions of the organization every day, and it's important that employees' expectations for behavior are met. Edward E. Lawler III, Director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California has written, "The key from an organizational point of view is to understand what people see as the consequences of different kinds of behaviors and to create a good alignment between what the organization needs and what individuals expect to be rewarded for."
2) Relationship With Direct Manager or Supervisor
Though it seems intuitive, we often try to underestimate the importance of relationships with our managers. We like to think that a bad boss is but a speed bump in our careers, when the truth is that a disliked manager will quickly provoke disengagement and a drop in productivity. Being on friendly terms with a manager is as important as any other aspect of the workplace, if not more so.
Managers should also not look to necessarily spoil employees to earn their adoration. The quality and meaningfulness of interactions is vastly more important than their frequency. As a manager, work to understand your employee's needs and expectations, but also work to develop a friendly relationship.
3) Career Opportunities
Lastly, a bleak career future is a surefire productivity and engagement killer. Unfortunately, a recent study found that 41 percent of workers worldwide felt they would need to take a job elsewhere to advance their careers.
New hires often cite career advancement and the opportunity to develop new skills as the most important distinguishers on accepting a position, and these factors remain important even years into a career. Those who perceive no reward for hard work or feel they are not learning will quickly jump ship, so it's important for managers to find ways to reward performance or find new learning opportunities, such as lateral career moves.
What do you think are the best ways to keep your employees engaged? Share your thoughts by taking Government Executive's survey and tell us how engaged you are at work. Over 20,000 managers have responded, but we're still looking to hear more voices. Help create the most complete picture of engagement in federal agencies ever assembled.
Click here to take GovExec's five-minute survey on employee engagement.
Read more of Excellence in Government's series on employee engagement below:
- 4 Reasons Why Investing in Employee Engagement Matters
- What's the Difference Between Employee Engagement and Employee Satisfaction?
- 3 Ways Agency Leadership Can Keep Employees Engaged
- How Happy Are You at Work? Tell Us.
Image via Michael D Brown/Shutterstock.com


text:
Annual family day & open house
Not only will this get you ready for Opening Day but it will give you a unique look at places that go unseen during the regular season. It is your one day ALL ACCESS pass to Coca-Cola Field.
The Buffalo Bisons, Triple-A Affiliate of the New York Mets, will hold their annual Family Day Open House on Saturday, March 21. This event is FREE to the general public.
One of the Bisons great off-season traditions, the Family Day Open House has something for fans of all ages, including:
- FREE Russer Hot Dogs on Midstate Bakery Rolls and Coca-Cola Soft Drinks
- NEW TEAM LOGO Gear available in the Batter's Box Gift Shop
- 2 LIVE Shows from Children's Music Entertainer Glenn Colton (12:15pm/1:30pm)
- Show Your Spirit with Brush of Class Face Paintings
- Test Your Skills in the Bisons Batting Cage and Radar Gun
- Swing for the Fences on Nintendo Wii Home Run Derby
- Take a Spin on the Bisons Prize Wheel to Win some Great Prizes
- Get an Inside Look at the Bisons Home Clubhouse, Press Box and Party Suites
- Classic Bisons Trophies and Artifacts AND MORE!!!
Doors will open at 11:00 a.m. for Bisons Season Ticket Holders. Everyone else is welcome to join the fun starting at 12:00 p.m.


text:
I'm going to post this up for download when Im finished, with the hopes that maybe other people could learn a little about Unreal from this scene. Would you guys be interested in that?
Unfortunately Dropbox have banned this link temporarily as I have gone over my 20gb daily download limit. This should be back up tomorrow. I'll look at getting it uploaded somewhere else as a backu


text:
1967-68 Corvette Floor Shift Tilt Column using FR Adapter - Polished Finish
Part No.: FR2001VTSSA
Warranty: 3 Years
Buy Now >
This all new column is an ideal fit for the 1967-68 Corvette applications which did not have tilt steering originally. The sleek design is similar to the styling of the original straight column right down to the 1-1/2" diameter tube. This all-new steering column fits into the original dash mount and with the modern convenience of TILT steering. The column features a splined 1"-48 input shaft for connection to your existing steering. Available in Paintable Steel or Polished Stainless Steel.
All Flaming River columns are made from 304 grade stainless steel, in paintable mill finish OR polished to a high luster. They will never rust and are chemically clean and can be painted to match or highlight an interior with only minor preparation.
Key?: Non-Key
Style: Floor Shift - 1967-68 Corvette
Diameter: Custom
Length: 33"
Size: Custom
Finish: Polished Stainless
Shipping Weight: 7lbs.
Shipping Dimensions: 41" x 7" x 7"
You May Also Like
Female Wiring Connector Kit - 4-1/4"
Female plug for Flaming River Tilt Columns....
CALIFORNIA WARNING: Cancer & Reproductive Harm – www.P65Warnings.ca.gov


text:
Lily Collins Leaving CVS Pharmacy in Los Angeles
Actress who became recognized for her roles in Mirror, Mirror, The Blind Side, and Abduction. She is the recipient of the 2008 Young Hollywood Award for One to Watch.
Lily Collins Age
31 years (March 18, 1989)
Zodiac Sign
Related celebs
Charlie McDowell
Lily Collins began dating American film director and writer Charlie McDowell in July 2019.
2015 - 2018
Jamie Campbell Bower
Lily Collins rekindling her relationship with Jamie Campbell Bower in 2015 until 2018.
2014 - 2015
Chris Evans
Lily Collins dated Chris Evans briefly before rekindling her relationship with Bower in 2015.
2012 - 2013
Jamie Campbell Bower
Lily Collins began dating Jamie Campbell Bower in 2012 and the couple split in 2013.
2010 - 2011
Taylor Lautner
Lily Collins dated Abduction co-star Taylor Lautner for about a year.
2009 - 2010
Riley Harper
Lily Collins dated Riley Harper from August 2009 to September 2010.


text:
Texas on the Potomac is pleased to introduce a new feature, the Texas Twitter Tussle.
This feature will examine the use of social media by prominent Texas political figures by comparing the Twitter strategies of a pair of public officials.
To kick off our feature, we compare and contrast the strategies of the state's two senators, Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
Tomorrow, we will look at the social media efforts of Julian and Joaquin Castro.
Please email us with ideas for future match-ups.
create infographics with visual.ly


text:
Welcome to this site which is part of the Traveller network of Travel Sites.
All the sites are updated on a regular basis by a volunteer team of travel professionals who between them have many years of experience in the travel industry.
We aim to bring our visitors useful snippets of information on the destinations and areas covered by the network.
If you have any feedback then please feel free to contact us at


text:
Dr. Debra Livingston Chosen as Superintendent
Post date: Jun 8, 2013 6:28:56 PM
This morning in a special meeting of the Board of School Committee Superintendent Search Committee Chairman Ted Rokas announced Dr. Debra Livingston was chosen as the next Superintendent for the Manchester School District – SAU 37. "We are pleased with the success of this search and believe that the extensive vetting and interview process led us to the right candidate for the job. By a unanimous vote of the Board of School Committee Dr. Debra Livingston was chosen to lead our district," began Rokas.Dr. Livingston is the current Superintendent of the Fall Mountain Regional School District (SAU 60 – Alstead, Charlestown area schools). Prior to her tenure at Fall Mountain she was the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction in Socorro Independent School District in El Paso Texas with over 37,000 students.Manchester Mayor, and School Board Chairman Ted Gatsas added, "I have total confidence that Dr. Livingston's experience and skill set makes her the right leader for the Manchester School District at this time. The district is in a period of transition and she has proven to the membership of the Board of School Committee that she is ready, willing and able. I look forward to welcoming her to our community and working with her to implement her vision for the district."Dr. Livingston commented, "I am honored and humbled to be chosen as the next Superintendent for the Manchester School District. The time spent here over the past few days have been exciting and rewarding. I look forward to working with the dedicated passionate, and committed stakeholders of the Manchester School District and the City of Manchester, Together we will move forward for the benefit of all Manchester's children."
Dr. Livingston will begin her tenure as the Superintendent of Schools for the Manchester School District (SAU 37) on July 1, 2013. She will
receive a negotiated salary of $160, 000. Currently Dr. Livingston resides in Charlestown, New Hampshire and will relocate to Manchester
within 180 days.
"In the next week the Superintendent Search Committee will finalize our task by putting together a group of community leaders to welcome and
introduce Dr. Livingston into the Manchester community. We believe that this last step is essential to Dr. Livingston's success and ask the
community to welcome her with open arms," concluded Rokas.


text:
Maximizing Value: Choose the Right Exit Route
Companies have choices when it comes to divesting unwanted businesses or assets. What are the pros and cons of each?Find out here
There are three main ways for a company to exit a business—through a trade sale, a spin-off, or an IPO. Determining the transaction model that's most appropriate for the asset in question is not a simple task. It involves a series of complex trade-offs. Start by having a clear understanding of how each model works:
The option that's best depends on a variety of factors that are particular to the parent company, the business being sold, and market conditions at the time of the transaction. Often, owners choose to keep multiple options open as long as possible, pursuing a dual-track or even triple-track strategy to maximize flexibility.
What does a successful divestiture look like? There are seven principles that apply, regardless of a company's motives for selling or the type of divestiture they choose.
Companies have choices when it comes to divesting unwanted businesses or assets. What are the pros and cons of each?Find out here
Divestitures are growing in significance as a means of creating value for companies on both sides of the transaction.Here's why
Take a look at the key factors to consider when divesting.Explore the infographic
An increasingly common way to accelerate the divestiture process is for sellers to walk in the shoes of a potential buyer before they even put up an asset for sale. This approach is known as vendor due diligence.
Commercial vendor due diligence is a process in which an independent third-party advisor assesses the asset just as a buyer would. It involves challenging the market attractiveness of the asset along with analyzing the competiveness of its business model and the defensibility of its margins, growth, and market share. The results of these analyses are then shared with prospective bidders to help jump-start the auction process.
In some cases, the asset in question may not have an immediately bankable business plan. Its commercial position may lag benchmark levels, its end markets may be difficult to understand, or its competitive advantages may be hidden from plain view. In these cases, only a rigorous divestment plan can unlock true value.
Companies must build a compelling business case for the asset and develop an attractive equity story. They need to prepare the major strategic and commercial portions of the information memorandum and the management presentation.
They must also identify key areas for future improvement of the business and help shape the thinking of potential buyers about the business's future potential. This process helps sellers anticipate any arguments for discounts and uncover any surprises early in the divestiture process.


text:
High quality InDesign Templates. Identity stationary pack. Built with flexibility in mind, using paragraph and object styles, which makes it easy to recolor the templates. Info about free font included in readme file.
Ready for print: 300dpi, CMYK, with bleeds.
Three separate InDesign Template files (and PDFs) included:
- Letterhead (A4) – 8.5×11
- Business Card – 3.5×2
- Envelope – 9.5×4.125


text:
B'nai B'rith Celebrates 170 Years; Discusses Issues Facing Jews, Israel, U.S. at 2013 Policy Forum
B'nai B'rith members and supporters from across the United States and the world gathered in Washington, D.C., Nov. 16 to 18 to celebrate and reflect on 170 years as an organization, as well as to examine pressing issues facing the global Jewish community, Israel and the United States. B'nai B'rith hosted speakers E.J. Dionne, Jr., journalist and political commentator; Ira Forman, U.S. State Department special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism; and David Cohen, U.S. Treasury Department under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, among other speakers.
"How Do We Govern in an Era of Shutdown Politics"
E.J. Dionne, Jr., a political commentator and a columnist for the Washington Post, was the Policy Forum's keynote speaker, addressing attendees over lunch on the gridlock on Capitol Hill. Dionne said we're seeing a period of asymmetric polarization in the United States, with Americans torn between beliefs of individualism versus community building. Though, he noted, whichever side of the fence you're on, people don't like the government shutting down.
"It's dangerous we can't resolve issues without shutting down or defaulting," Dionne said.
Dionne also discussed problems facing both political parties and the talk of "American decline," to which he said the only way to ensure American decline is to continue conducting politics as we are at the moment.
"The United States and the Fight Against Global Anti-Semitism"
Ira Forman, the State Department special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism, expressed alarm at the growing levels of anti-Semitism around the world, while stressing the need to understand the particulars and uniqueness of anti-Semitism in each region. Forman said that some Jewish leaders around the world have compared anti-Semitism today to the 1930s, noting, for instance, the rise of openly anti-Semitic European parliamentary parties with street militias. Forman also pointed to the increasing secularization of Europe as a key factor in the ascent of anti-Semitism, highlighting the growing movement to ban ritual circumcision as one particular manifestation. He fears that if current trends continue, vulnerable Jewish communities could be lost.
"The Prospects for Immigration Reform in a Divided Washington"
A group of immigration experts joined the B'nai B'rith Policy Forum for a panel discussion on the key aspects, intricacies and history of comprehensive immigration reform. The panel consisted of Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, Esther Olavarria, director of immigration reform for the National Security Staff, Jennifer Rejeske, health policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center, and Rachel Goldberg, B'nai B'rith International director of aging policy. Eric Fusfield, B'nai B'rith International director of legislative affairs, moderated the panel.
Olavarria started the discussion off by outlining the four legs of comprehensive immigration reform and insisting there is muscle behind it, even in the House of Representatives, saying "It's there, it could be done, but for the gridlock."
Hetfield spoke at the 2006 B'nai B'rith Policy Conference and since then he said, "Everything more or less remains eerily the same." Hetfield agreed with Olavarria that a House of Representatives immigration bill is very close to being passed and described what the immigration bill passed in the Senate would accomplish.
Rejeske discussed her issues with the current immigration system, the plight of low income immigrant workers and what policy changes should be made to integrate this marginalized population into American society.
"We cannot be detaining and deporting 1,100 immigrants a day," Rejeske said. "It's absolutely terrorizing immigrant communities."
U.S. Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence
David S. Cohen, the U.S. Treasury Department's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, gave the Policy Forum's final address. Cohen, who oversees U.S. sanctions against Iran, spoke about ongoing multilateral efforts to stop the Iran's nuclear weapons program. He also talked about Iran's financing of its terrorist proxy Hezbollah.
B'nai B'rith Honorary Presidents Roundtable
B'nai B'rith was honored to have six honorary B'nai B'rith International presidents speak to the Policy Forum in a roundtable discussion on their times overseeing the organization. All of them shared anecdotes, reflected on their important work and brought up the most moving episodes of their tenures. The former presidents taking part were Seymour D. Reich, Kent E. Schiner, Tommy P. Baer, Richard D. Heideman, Joel S. Kaplan and Moishe Smith. Current President Allan J. Jacobs sat in on the discussion and Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin was the moderator.
B'nai B'rith at 170: "Making and Witnessing 17 Decades of History"
Pamela Nadell, chair of the department of history and director of the Jewish studies program at American University, spoke about the history and founding of B'nai B'rith. She linked the commemoration of B'nai B'rith's 170th anniversary year to the 150th anniversary of many pivotal events during the Civil War. Nadell noted two war-time cases in particular where B'nai B'rith played an active role "that advanced Jewish rights in America."
"State of the Organization"
To kick off the 2013 B'nai B'rith Policy Forum, President Allan J. Jacobs delivered the annual "State of the Organization" address. Jacobs reflected on the longevity of the organization, citing The New York Times, Major League Baseball and the Red Cross as B'nai B'rith's juniors. Jacobs also listed some of B'nai B'rith's highlights for 2013, including a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, attending the first interfaith meeting with Pope Francis and the organization's ongoing disaster relief work, among other things.
"The Five Major Challenges Facing the Global Jewish Community"
B'nai B'rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin addressed policy forum attendees by outlining five of the most pressing issues confronting the global Jewish community as well as the continuing Iranian nuclear threat. The five issues include improving Jewish literacy and Zionist education, addressing the boycotts, divestment and sanctions and the demonization and delegitimization groups that threaten the peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and supporting international Jewish communities, Holocaust-era assets restitution efforts and aging Jewish populations. "These issues are going to get more and more pronounced, and B'nai B'rith is well positioned to deal with [them]."
B'nai B'rith Israel: "Pre-State and Post-State Independence"
B'nai B'rith World Center Director Alan Schneider traveled from Jerusalem to give Policy Forum attendees a history of B'nai B'rith in Israel and noted the 125th anniversary of the organization in the Jewish State as an equally as significant a milestone to the 170th anniversary. Schneider spoke about the amazing people who led B'nai B'rith and Israel in the early days, highlighting their remarkable "daring, commitment and dedication" to creating Israel. He said the early B'nai B'rith leaders in Israel were laying a social and economic foundation for the Jewish state and that B'nai B'rith members wished to "popularize the notion of Jewish nationalism."
Presentation of the Sidney H. Closter Outstanding New Professional Award
The Sidney H. Closter Outstanding New Professional Award was presented during lunch by Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin to United Nations Affairs Program Officer Oren Drori. The award is given to an outstanding young professional within the ranks of B'nai B'rith and is in remembrance of Closter, a B'nai B'rith fundraising staffer for 50 years. Closter's widow, Rose, was in attendance and spoke about Sidney's legacy, saying, "In addition to Sidney's demanding work, he derived much pleasure from nurturing young people to develop careers in non-profit organizations and expanding the goals of B'nai B'rith."
September 2020


text:
Multiple charging methods offer flexibility for on-location shoots.
Anton/Bauer, a Vitec Group brand, and a leading provider of batteries, chargers, lighting and other mobile power systems for the professional broadcast, video and film industries, introduced its cutting-edge Tandem 150 Modular Power System to attendees at this year's IBC 2010.
The Tandem 150 system provides ultimate flexibility for shoots in isolated areas offering two unique methods of charging. Crews working out of their cars during a night shoot, in an isolated location, or in an area where power is not accessible can simply use the CA-TMCL with their dependable vehicle AC power outlet. The CA-TMCL is the smallest portable car charger on the market and does not require an inverter. The battery simply snaps on the QR-TM bracket and plugs into the vehicle's power outlet. In addition, for productions where sunlight is available, crews can charge any Logic Series battery with the award-winning Anton/Bauer Solar Panel.
Weighing just two and a half pounds, the Tandem 150 is the smallest and lightest charger and on-camera power supply, as well as the only on-camera AC power supply over 100 watts without a fan available on the market. This fully automatic system allows a user to simultaneously charge a battery and power a camera. When a 75 watt draw is exceeded, the system automatically stops charging and performs solely as a 150 watt power supply. When the camera is turned off or the load is reduced below 75 watts, the Tandem 150 system instantly resumes normal operation as a simultaneous charger/power supply. Users can operate the system from the AC Mains at 100 to 240 volts AC or 50-60 Hz.
"Anton/Bauer prides itself on meeting the expanding needs of industry professionals," says Michael Accardi, president, Anton/Bauer. "As users' needs continue to expand and evolve, it's important that solutions address this issue and provide more options for production crews. The Tandem 150 Modular Power System does just that, giving industry professionals working on-location or in remote areas a lightweight solution with several choices for power supply. We certainly focused on ease of use for this system."


text:
James Holmes Joker? Suspect Joked on During Adult Website 'Shenanigans'
Weeks before James Holmes, the suspect in the "Dark Knight" shootings, played out his horrific scheme, it appears that he attempted to reach out for an emotional connection on an online dating website.
Days after the shooting occurred, news broke that Holmes had recently opened an account on Adult Friend Finder, a website dedicated to helping adults find casual sex partners. On his profile, Holmes had initially noted that he was interested in: group sex, sex with couples, and one-on-one intercourse.
"Looking for a fling or casual sex gal. Am a nice guy. Well, as nice enough of a guy who does these sort of shenanigans," Holmes wrote in his introductory paragraph.
However, once Holmes attempted to communicate with women on the site, a new report has revealed that he was only interested in chatting. Holmes attempted to contact three different women, according to TMZ, since opening his profile on the site July 5. Each of the three women turned Holmes down, but not because he appeared creepy. Rather, one woman stated that Holmes was not actually interested in sex.
Holmes was not actively searching for a sexual partner and instead was "just looking to maybe chat ... nothing sexual," according to one of the women who spoke to TMZ.
All three women stated that they were simply not interested in Holmes, who had posted a picture of himself with his newly dyed "Joker" hair. It appears that Holmes was already planning his imminent arrest at that time and also wrote on his profile, "Would You Visit Me in Prison."
Board certified neuropsychologist Dominic Carone has suggested that Homles had a difficult time interacting with others emotionally, which may explain his online adult dating account. In addition, he hypothesizes that Holmes may have identified with the Joker character due to a history of being bullied and ostracized. Because Holmes likely came off as socially awkward, other's receptions of him likely affected his ability to interact and even get a job, despite his high level of education.
"The Joker is known to take his anger out against the world through violent means, which sometimes involves using explosive devices and guns in public places," Dr. Carone wrote on his blog.
"It seems that Holmes was teased, probably related to his social awkwardness, and that he did not know how to handle it and held his emotions in," Dr. Carone added. "In the case of James Holmes, such feelings may have been brewing for some time."


text:
Saturday, October 28 from 10am to 2pm, the League City, Lakeview, Kemah, Friendswood, and Webster Police Departments and the Harris County Constable Precinct 8 will be set up taking back your expired or unneeded prescription and non-prescription medications. The Drug Enforcement Administration is once again partnering with local law enforcement to properly dispose of all medications collected. Previous local collection efforts coordinated by the Bay Area Alliance have resulted in the collection of over 14,000 pounds of medications!
The locations include:
Lakeview Police Department – 500 Kirby Road, Taylor Lake Village, TX
League City Police Department – 555 W. Walker, League City, TX
Webster Fire Department – 18300 Hwy 3, Webster, TX
Kemah Police Department – 1401 Hwy 146, Kemah, TX
Hope Lutheran Church (Friendswood PD)- 1804 S. Friendswood Dr, Friendswood, TX
Harris County Constable Precinct 8 – 16602 Diana Lane, Houston, TX
"This initiative is so important because it keeps these potentially dangerous medications out of the reach of children," said Neil Treble, President of the Bay Area Alliance Executive Board. "It prevents abuse, misuse, or accidental poisonings by youth as well as adults. We are thankful that these local law enforcement agencies have made it a priority to continue this project."
Results from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicate that about 15 million people aged 12 or older used prescription drugs non-medically in the past year, and 6.5 million did so in the past month. According to Bay Area Alliance Coalition Manager, Amanda McLauchlin, "This effort encourages everyone to do their part in emptying these potentially hazardous drugs from their medicine cabinets."
Participants will just "drive through" the drop-off site at each facility where law enforcement will take medications for proper and secure off-site disposal. Please note that this entire process is completely anonymous and no identifying information other than zip code will be requested or noted. **Please note: No Sharps Will Be Collected!**
For more information, please contact the Bay Area Alliance for Youth and Families at 281-284-0370 or go to www.ccisd.net/alliance.